


Tide Pool Rendevous

by Aithilin



Series: MerMay 2020 [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mer!Nyx, MerMay 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24335224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Noctis has his own little escape from the Citadel, where his secrets are waiting for him.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Nyx Ulric
Series: MerMay 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730110
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Tide Pool Rendevous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LogicDive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LogicDive/gifts).



> Prompted from my Merfolk Fluffabet for MerMay 2020. 
> 
> T - Tide pools  
> F - forgotten

There was a world in each tide pool; a little reflection of the greater ocean that seemed tame and mild by comparison. The rocky shore, with its perfectly portioned little hollows seemed to capture the essence of the world around it during the low tide, when the crystalline waters at the very edge of Insomnia— in the strait that separated the Allural Deep from the Lucinia Sound- had pulled away from the steep rise of the island city’s natural base. Despite the shadows of the tall cliffs and the taller Walls of the city, the noon sun still managed to illuminate the pockets of ocean set aside from the glistening shoreline. 

Noctis picked his way carefully, a hand on the cliffs that had been too steep for ladders and maintenance stairs, despite the drains large enough to fit a train through spouting out rain water that had collected in the city gutters. They had since fallen into disuse, some sealed and others left open to the right adventurer. One warded by the same magic that covered the city— its own pocket of the greater kingdom set aside by a tide of endless stalemate with invading forces. 

That was the tunnel Noctis had used. Its origin was in the lower garages of the Citadel. The levels buried beneath the shining, exhibition filled building, where the scrap and escape routes were kept. Where the reminder that— should the Citadel ever fall— there was a few hidden passageways out of the city for the royal family. Noctis had picked his way through the maze of the storage rooms and forgotten wartime tools— pieces of vehicles, weapons, shattered statues reminiscent of the Old Wall— long ago in his explorations, and ended up well beyond the reaches of nannies and guards by accident. Now, his faithful shadows of Ignis and Gladio followed his every move in his hike through the dark, warded tunnel and out to the blinding daylight. 

The stagnant air was washed away by the sea breezes funnelled low through the strait, as if it was a canyon between the mountains of Cleigne or further rather than a long stretch to connect two seas. The birds had greeted them in a flurry of speckled feathers and screeching cries, scattering as Gladio emerged from the tunnel first with a grunt and a stretch. 

“That is hardly sanitary, Noct,” Ignis griped as he washed his hands in the salt waters metres from the gaping and rusted maw of the tunnel’s mouth. “There are other means of getting here.”

“They aren’t as convenient,” Noctis had a system now— there was a set of rocks that were just barely visible at high tide that he could climb down to the shore at low tide. They had been worn smooth with the weather, but he was practiced now. Years of slips and scrapes on the rocks had taught him the delicate dimples and imperfections that could act as foot holds and handholds, letting him scramble down where Gladio just risked the drop and Ignis seemed to just appear on the stones below. 

There had been other ways— boats from the nearby harbour, a climb down from a gateway above and across the narrow paths and winding maintenance routes— but he had always liked the maze of the lower levels of the Citadel. Where all the secrets were hidden away like broken toys forgotten under a bed. 

And now that he was older, slipping away through a tunnel meant for his escape seemed almost required when ducking away from a Council meeting or diplomatic session with some visiting dignitary. It was almost a challenge, just as any high score was at the arcade down the street from his apartment. 

Only Prompto didn’t follow them through the dark tunnels when the mood struck. He said that the twisted metal and broken faces of forgotten statues creeped him out. But he had practiced the safer, saner methods of getting down to Noctis’ little fishing retreat, and they could see him above, settled on the edge of an outcrop midway between the water and the Wall with his camera catching the sun. 

Noctis smiled and saw the movement he was looking for down the shoreline. A splash out of time with the waves, a cold spray left in the wake of something larger moving beneath the shadows of the rocky shore. 

“Guys...”

“Yes, yes,” Ignis waved him off, a soft sort of smile taking the edge off the dismissive tone; “we’ll be right here. Do try not to run off.”

Gladio just grunted his agreement and seemed to settle on a perch of larger stones close to the cliff, a book already in hand. 

The shoreline at low tide had started as a perfect fishing spot. Half-rotted docks and angled piers had dotted the rocky stretch, half forgotten by the Lucians as the larger harbours and marinas to the eastern gates had grown. Noctis had never seen anyone using the shore here— or gathering from the numerous tide pools that dotted the stones like little captured images of the seas. 

In his younger days, he had watched the crabs and crustaceans— the tiny things more akin to dinner than to the beasts that roamed the coasts of his kingdom— move from one pool to the next. He had seen starfish move, and tiny fish nibble at the remnants of seaweed, oblivious to the birds circling overhead or the boy scraping his knees to get a better look. 

And there had been fishing. Over the years, he had returned to the Citadel with some prize or another too big to release back to the open waters. His line under a constant stress as schools moved between the great bodies of water on either side of the narrow channel. He had spent hours here, watching the shapes beneath the darker waters move, while the bright snapshots in the tide pools nearby flourished. 

“One day,” a familiar voice drifted across the little stretch of shore; “I’ll get you to notice me before the fish.”

“Not likely.” But Noctis smiled and paused in his careful steps to admire the creature before him. 

Nyx was a creature of the sea. 

But he seemed to like lounging in the tide pools when they met like this. 

At high tide, Nyx would greet him at the tunnel, all smiles and kisses, anchored to the shore with a strong grip. 

But lately, he had taken to claiming a pool for himself at the low tide. One of the larger ones he lounged in, tossing fish and urchins out to the open waters as he stretched in the confines of the pool as if he were bathing. Noctis watched him toss a small crab out to the water, hands gentle around the creature. 

“You brought your guards, again?”

Noctis knelt by the water, a hand already moving to the indigo scales of Nyx’s long tail. “They insisted. I think Iggy is just thinking of a cover for us.”

There had been plenty of meetings like this since they met. Since Nyx had settled in the local waters, disappearing easily when needed in the shadow of the cliffs and walls. There had been. Meetings that started as teasing and careful watching. Curious questions eased to a comforting quiet as Noctis cast his line and Nyx lounged nearby. 

They had shared innocent kisses when the tide was high, when Noctis could sit at the lip of his little escape and forget that there was anything demanding his attention in the city above. Kisses that had moved deeper as Nyx grew bolder, as Noctis grew bolder. More comfortable with the strangeness of his secret and excursions. 

Nyx caught his hand and pulled him close, into the the shallow waters and moved him how he liked. Noctis wet willingly, ignoring the discomfort of wet jeans clinging to his legs as he straddled Nyx’s waist, where tail and flesh blended easily. Naturally.

“You need to stop bringing them, little star,” Nyx said, kissing Noctis like they hadn’t seen each other in months, rather than days. 

Had they been alone, or just further down the stretch of shore where the larger outcrops could hide them from view, Noctis knew that this meeting would be more to Nyx’s liking. That the jeans would have been discarded before they could get wet, that they would both be scratched and bruised by the stones as they moved on a less chaste— less chaperoned— manner. 

“You try telling them that.”

Nyx grinned as he let his hands rest on Noctis’ back, Ignis’ disapproval carried over on the sea breeze to where they were resting.


End file.
